Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 Frame analysis of News Reportage in Srilankan newspapers on Indo Sino Stand-off in Doklam Abstract Sri Lanka‟s foreign policy towards India and China can be understood by decoding media content reported in SriLankan newspapers. This study tries to analyse the frames used in selected newspapers in Sri Lanka thereby comprehend the external affairs policy of the government with regard to India China stand-off in Doklam. In this work Entman‟s Cascading Activation Model is used to interpret the findings. In cascading Activation Model Entman says information about a country‟s external affairs will be controlled by the government the censored information will be pass on to the media and the media communicate the message through „frames‟ the central organising idea in a news story. “Selection and salience” of information will construct the public opinion posits Entman in his framing theory. Key words: Sri lanka , India China Stand-off in Doklam, Cascading Activation Model, Media Framing. Introduction Srilanka owes eight million USD to China in the recent past; this pushes the country to lean towards China. India shares its maritime border with Srilankabut its closeness to China is always perceived as threat to India. To quote the article reported in The Economic Times on 6th June 2020 China uses this crisis situation to lash out countries in South Asia hence China‟s habit of waging surrogate warfare and Srilanka‟s attachment towards China are perceivedthreat to India since the chance of China setting its foot in India through Srilanka is high, So it is paramount important to observe the external affairs policy of Srilanka. Media Framing Media acts as a conduit between policy makers and the public. To understand the standpoint of the government towards its external affairs policy it is necessary to observe the media content. Media reflects government‟s view point. Media supports or opposes a country in lieu of its government‟s external affairs policy. Mass media content needs to be comprehended in order to understand the foreign policy of the country. Media constructs news through media frames. Interpreting media frames help us understand the foreign policy of Sri Lanka towards India and China. Typology of Framing Research Media frames according to Gamson and Modigliani (1987) are the “central organizing idea or story line that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of an event. Frames suggest the controversy and the essence of the issue”Media provides its audiences with schemas for interpreting events with essential factors through its” selection and salience”. Media frames can be studied as dependent and Independent variable. This study examines frames as an dependent variable reflecting the external affairs policy of Sri Lankan government towards India and China with special reference to Indo Chinese stand –off in Doklam. This study applies Entman‟s “Cascading Network Activation model”. Entman‟s model postulates that information flows from the top to the bottom from the government to Volume XII, Issue VIII, August/2020 Page No:1221 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 the public through media. Media constructs its content through frames. Analysis of news frames will disclose Sri Lanka‟s external affairs policy for India and China. Indo Sri Lankan Relations To quote the words of Srilankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa “India a relation for us, while other nations are friends‟ on February 9th 2020. “Sri Lanka-India bilateral ties revitalised, will maintain warm relations with New Delhi: President Gotabaya” on December 2nd 2019. Agreements signed between India and Srilanka India has announced a special Line of Credit of $50 million for strengthening Sri Lanka‟s abilities to counter terror threats. Both countries have agreed to cooperate on counter-terrorism. Sri Lankan police officers in major Indian institutions are already receiving the counter terrorist training. India has announced $400 million Line of Credit for infrastructure development in Srilanka. Sri Lankan President assured that Colombo will take steps to release the boats of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody. Under the Indian Housing Project, 46,000 houses have been constructed for the internally displaced in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka and 14,000 houses for Tamils of Indian origin in the Up-Country region is in progress. The two leaders have decided to utilise the $100 million credit line earlier announced for setting up solar projects in Srilanka. Mr. Rajapaksa extended an invite to Mr. Modi to visit Sri Lanka as the first foreign head of government to be hosted by the new presidency. From the words of the President and Prime minister of Sri Lanka and the from the list of agreements signed between the two countries it is explicit that the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka is strong and stable. China and Sri Lankan Relations Chino Srilanka relationship was commendable under Rajapaksa regime. China plays a pivotal role in the economic development of Sri Lanka. There are many projects for which China has extended financial assistance to Sri Lanka ofwhich the major ones are the Hambantota Port, the Mattala International Airport, the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway, the Narocholai Coal Power Plaint, the Moragahakanda Multipurpose Development Project (which deals with irrigation, drinking water, and electricity), the Matara-Kataragama Railway Line, and the Colombo International Financial City. China is also assisting in building a specialised hospital for kidney disease, as well as an outpatients‟ building at the National Hospital in Colombo. Sino Sri Lankan ties grew stronger in the recent past. Sri Lanka Indo Sino Relations Sri Lanka maintains neutral foreign policy towards India and China. In the article written by Rajeswari Pillai in Diplomat she says “It is unlikely that Colombo will pick one side or the other because it makes more sense for it to get China and India continue to woo it with gifts and attention, which will stop if Sri Lanka makes a choice. Thus, even as India and China compete, Sri Lanka has every incentive to keep both parties in play so as to benefit from both.” In the research article “ Trapped between dragon and South Asia‟s big brother : the case of Sri Lanka‟s balanced foreign policy”Shakthi De Silva says Sri Lanka maintains Volume XII, Issue VIII, August/2020 Page No:1222 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 balanced foreign policy , In the Journal of Indian Ocean Region. Karunanayake and Ockersz posit that “ Present leadership wishes to maintain an Asia centric middle path” . Panditaraten asserts that Sri Lanka aims to forge a dual identity as the centre of Indian Ocean and economic entry point to the Indian subcontinent”. Above all Sri Lankan President Shri Gothabhaya Rajapaksa claims in his election manifesto that Sri Lanka will maintain “equidistant foreign policy and remain neutral in any conflict between major power”. The inference from this assertion is Sri Lanka maintains an “equidistance” foreign policy towards India and Sri Lanka. This study tries to analyse how media frames Sri Lanka‟s foreign policy towards India and China and how media portrays India Chian stand – off in Doklam Prior to frame analysis of selectednewspapers it is essential to understand the media scape in Sri Lanka. Media Scape in Sri Lanka Print: 20 (daily) ,50 (weekly) , 30 (monthly) Radio stations: 50 Number of active Television stations: 20 media outlets Newspaper circulation statistics Lankadeepa (Sinhala): 250,000 Divaina (Sinhala): 156,000 Top Circulating News Virakesari (Tamil): 140,000 Papers Ada (Sinhala): 110,000 Daily News (English): 88,000 Island (English): 70,000 Daily Mirror (English): 76,000 Source: Media sustainability Index 2019. Materials and Methods This study applies frame analysis of news published in selected newspapers from Si Lanka. The new papers selected for the study are Ceylon today, Daily News in English and Thinakural andUthayan .Ceylon today is an English daily published by Ceylon Newspapers (Private) Limited. It was founded in 2011 and is published from Colombo and it is owned by politician Tiran Alles. The Daily News is an English-language newspaper in Sri Lanka. It is now published by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, a government- owned corporation. The newspaper commenced publishing on 3 January 1918.D. R. Wijewardena was its founder.Thinakkural is a Tamil newspaper published in Sri Lanka. It was founded by PonRajagobal, former editor of Virakesari in 1997.Uthayan is a Tamil Volume XII, Issue VIII, August/2020 Page No:1223 Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research ISSN NO: 0022-1945 language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by New Uthayan Publication (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 1985 and is published from Jaffna. Uthayan was the only newspaper published from Jaffna which did not cease publication due to the civil war. An inductive frame analysis has been carried out and the frames are categorized and analysed with the conceptual frame work of Entman‟s“ Cascading network activation model”. In this model he posits that different policy players and political elites play an important role in the external affairs policy of the country and that gets reflected in the news frames. This model was proposed by himto study the relationship between government and the media. He says the primary function of news frames is to define a problem, identify the reason for the problem, make a moral judgement about the people involved and suggests remedies for the problem. While performing these functions media frames reflect government‟s stance. Cascading Network Activation Model Entman 2004 This model was developed by Entman to explain US foreign policy towards Iran Iraq and Afganistan. He uses the cascading waterfall as a metaphor to explain the power flow from the government to the public through media frame.